


drowning

by thehanbaniverse



Category: Caddicarus - Fandom, Hidden Block (Video Blogging RPF)
Genre: Caddicarus - Freeform, Drowning, Gen, Guilt, Hallucinating, Insomnia, Visions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-09
Updated: 2018-03-09
Packaged: 2019-02-12 15:53:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 21,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12962889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thehanbaniverse/pseuds/thehanbaniverse
Summary: jim caddick has been put on a curse and nobody believes him. his past and future enemies want to drown him while he tries to swim through his already busy life. how's he gonna lift the curse? will he make it to shore? or will he just drown?





	1. Chapter 1

_I open my eyes and see nothing but the brown water submerged around me. I hold my breath for a large amount of time._

**_Jim. Swim yourself to the surface. You know how. Don't make yourself drown._ ** **_ Stop being so scared _ ** **_._ **

_I obey my conscience and start swimming to the surface._

_My brown shaggy hair covers my eyes as I surface the_ _river_ _. Coughing and gasping, I try to tread water, but my head keeps going back under. I can't help it. My legs and arms are flinging way too fast to keep me above the surface. I'm in panic. I'm gonna sink and drown but that doesn't matter because nobody cares. Nobody ever will._

_I've been lied to. I myself made some terrible mistakes. Everyone hates me now._

**_I'd rather die than have to keep living in this hell._ **

_Every time my eyes close I hear voices and have visions of four different people...and I can't tell who they are..._

_Before I know it, I end up underwater, water filling my lungs and killing me._

 

_**\- - -**   
_

 

**_-  m a y  2 0 1 2  -_ **

"Hey, Cadds!"

Olly calls me from down the hallway once the final bell rings, releasing all of us from school. I turn around and see him with an excited look on his face. "What's going on, Olly?" "Can you come to my house tonight? I need help getting some stuff out of the moving truck tonight as my grandfather's moving in our house soon." "Sure, I think I can help!" "Great! Be there at around 18:00." "I'll make it, I promise."

I continue walking out of the school, when I walk past a mirror on a door near the exit. I rub my chin and whisper to myself "Man, I wish I could grow a beard". I chuckle and walk out. Maybe someday.

**\- - -**

When I get back home, I see my sister lying on the couch watching TV as she's sick today. It seems as if every time she sneezes or coughs, another streak of blonde in her dyed hair returns to her natural reddish-brown color. "Are you doing better, Rosie?" "Yeah, a *sniff* little bit...how was your day, James?" "It was alright. Usual school day. I'm going to Olly's tonight to help his grandfather move in." "Well that sounds fun." Rosie sarcastically says. "Well, I have nothing else to do."

That night when I get to Olly's house, the truck is already out and Olly's got a box in his hands. "Hey Caddy! You're several minutes late!" I chuckle and tell him "My sister was sick and she kinda kept me around for a while." "Well little sisters will be little sisters." Olly says. We laugh and start taking in boxes.

"So where's your grandfather at? Is he home now?" I ask out of curiosity as he's nowhere to be seen in the house. "I don't actually know. He told us he was going somewhere but not where he was going. I hope he's not hurt or anything, the reason he's moving is because he can't care for himself anymore. He can still go places but he already has a curfew put in place. He's about to break it and he's still not back yet." "Hmmm..."

So we get done with moving quite a few boxes in the living room, and an hour had already passed. Olly and I crash on the couch as we hadn't sat down in a while. "So, Caddy, you'll be  _18 years old_ soon." "I can't believe that. I'll be thinking about what to do with my life, school will be over for us...it's scary, really."

I then hear a knock on the door. A loud one. "Oh, that must be him."

Olly gets the door and his grandfather walks in. "Grandpa, you don't look so good..."

He wobbles around as he walks, and plops down on the recliner in the living room, where he vomits down his shirt. " _Oh dear...he was at the pub again_..."

Silence emits throughout the room.

**\- - -**

I walk out of the bathroom about half an hour later and see that Grandpa Ross is no longer on the recliner. "Where could've he gone to..." I whisper. I walk into the kitchen and get something as I'm getting a bit peckish. I dig through Olly's pantry and look for the Monster Munch bags he said he had.

" _Who...are_ ** _you_** _?_ "

An old feeble voice talks to me, scaring me after there had been silence. I turn around and Olly's grandfather is holding onto the table, trying to keep himself up. "Oh...um, I'm Olly's friend, James Cad-" He slams the bag of Monster Munch out of my hands and screams at me " ** _GET OUT OF MY HOUSE AND STOP STEALING MY STUFF_**." " _St-stealing_? But I-" " ** _I SAID GET OUT!_** " He grabs me and starts slapping me in the face, hard. He throws me on the ground, and I try to get myself up with my excruciating pain I've been put in. He runs over to the knives and pulls out a butcher knife and runs to me. " ** _IF YOU DON'T GET THE HECK OUT OF THIS HOUSE, YOU'RE DEAD!_** " I scream on the top of my lungs and run as fast as I can out of that house. I get in my car and drive out of there faster than a speeding bullet.

Once I got home, sweat was all over me. I'd started to cry. I go in my room and crash on my bed, falling asleep almost immediately. Whatever the heck that was, I don't know. But this will most likely give me the worst of nightmares.


	2. t w o

**_-  o c t o b e r  2 0 1 7  -_ **

"Finally done."

I crack open a Pepsi on a Thursday afternoon and gulp it down while looking out the window, walking away from my PC. I'd finished Sunday's video early and I'm ready to chill. It's the end of the cycle so I've got two weeks of relaxation ahead of me.

The 6 week cycle goes by so quick. I relax after 6 weeks of work and before I know it, I'm starting to make videos again after 2 weeks. Time needs to go slower.

A chill runs down my back, but I'm not sure why. Maybe it's just the realization that I'm on a break hitting me.

...Oh, right...

 _That dream_.

I start shaking and I put down my Pepsi for a second. It's all coming back to me.

_It was weird. I was drowning in the river, and I kept having visions of these four people. Four people that taunted me and yelled at me in my head. I eventually drowned, and woke up from my dream at 3 in the morning crying. Cerys had to hold me for about half an hour or so, and we went back to sleep. However I didn't sleep. I kept thinking about that dream. It felt so real...I felt as if I was really thrown into a river while having a full-blown panic attack. I fell asleep at 5, but only slept for 2 hours. Then I was wide awake and ready to finish the videos. But the dream had shaken me. And just when I tried to forget it, I remembered it._

**_Why can't I just be a YouTuber in peace?_ **

I need to see my girlfriend.

I peek out of my office door and into the kitchen to see Cerys there at the table, editing tomorrow's Cinemaggots on her laptop. I head out the door and sneak up on her as quietly as possible, then once I'm behind her, I put my hands over her eyes, surprising her. "Guess who," I whisper. "Hmm...you do sound oddly familiar..." She then turns around quickly and gives me a kiss on the beard. We then laugh, and we hug and kiss again.

"You're so beautiful, Jim." Cerys tells me. I laugh and tell her "You're beautiful too, honey.".

She really is so beautiful. We both have hazel eyes, but hers are more gorgeous. We both have brown hair, but hers is more luscious.

"Are you okay, honey? Have you recovered?" "Not really...once I finished my video it came flooding back to me." Cerys hugs me again and says "Hopefully this was just one bad nightmare." "I sure hope so...well,  
I better go check on the kids. I've barely seen them all day. And I should let you get back to editing." "Alright Jim!"

I walk out of the room to let her continue editing and I start heading up the stairs to go and see the kids.

"Phoebe? Amy?" I open their door and see that they're in a heated game of Mario Kart 64. "I'm in 1st! I'm in 1st!" Amy says. "Not for long!" Phoebe uses a blue shell and it crushes Amy.

I laugh. Watching them warms my heart.

"Are you girls having fun?" I ask once they're done with their race. "Of course we are!" Amy yells. She then runs over and pounces on me, and I end up laughing on the bottom bunk of her and Phoebe's bunk bed. "Oh, girls. You two are something else." I say out of breath from laughing so hard. Phoebe joins in and climbs on top of me. " _Agh,_  not so hard, Pheebs." I wrap my arms around both of them. After last night, I felt as if I hadn't seen the girls in ages. I felt as if I'd lost them forever. But they're still here in the end. They're here to give me hugs and I'm here to hug them.

Amy starts fiddling with my beard, then Phoebe takes off my Crash cap and puts it on her head. "Greetings and Salutations," she says, trying to imitate me. "Haha, you do a pretty good job at that," I say, getting the cap back from her. "Well, you two keep having fun." I get up off the bed and start heading out their room.

Once I'm out, Chloe comes walking by with something to tell me. "Mum told me to tell you that Aunt Ruth wants us to come over sometime in November or December." "Oh, well...cool, I guess..."

I've never seen Aunt Ruth, but I've heard the girls talk about her briefly. Is she good or bad? I don't know why I need to know a month in advance.

"How is Aunt Ruth?" I ask. "Oh, right, you've never met her...she's, um...interesting." "That's it?" "Yup..." "Huh."

I then let out a yawn. I'm in need of a nap.

I find myself heading into my room and crashing on my bed. I need to catch up on all the sleep I lost last night.

And I try not to have more nightmares.


	3. t h r e e

**_-  t w o  w e e k s  l a t e r  -_ **

"Greetings and salutations my beautiful people, and welcome to The Caddicarus Show, where I always have to do the deed- the dirty-  _crap!_ "

This break went just as fast as the other two week breaks. I want to get back to making videos. But for some reason my body's not wanting to cooperate.

I sigh and try to say the intro again.

"Greeting and salutations, and welcome to-"

**_Ding-dong!_ **

"Why..."

I go out of my office over to the front door and look out the little peephole. A young woman with longish red hair, glasses and a clipboard in her hands. Something inside of me is telling me not to open the door. I guess if she's not gonna leave I might as well just answer and get it over with.

"Are you Mr. Caddick?" the lady asks once I open the door. "Yes, yes I am." "I'm one of the officers at Hereford Primary School, and it turns out Amy has been getting terrible grades in her subjects." The lady hands me over a report from the school. And almost every subject had an F by it. "...This can't be true, there must have been a mixup. Last time I checked, she was doing great in school." "Well, I guess something's happened since then because she's failing."

I sigh and call her down. " ** _Amy! Would you come here please?_** " I hear her door open from upstairs and she comes down the stairs. A confused look appears on her face. "What's going on, Caddy?" "Have you been having trouble in some subjects?" "I don't think so..." Amy grabs the paper from me and the confused look on her face becomes more confused than ever. "I think there was a mistake," she says. "Well, Ms., there was definitely a mixup. I don't know how long you've been working there or how this happened, but this is a phony report."

I then shut the door without a care. I'd already been fired up for a while as I can't even get myself to say my intro right.

"Caddy...I don't think I've seen her at school before." "She's probably brand new. She doesn't seem to know what she's doing."

I walk back into my office and slump down on the ground. I don't get it. What's preventing me from staying positive today? That report card was just weird. I can't get myself to make videos. What's wrong with me?

**\- - -**

"Jim! What are we gonna do for dinner?" Cerys asks me, walking in on me editing the video I managed to film. "We're out of almost everything," she continues. "So we need to agree on a place to go out to eat." "Can we just go to the store real quick and get something to cook here?" "The best grocery store near here is closed today because of something that happened...I think there was a stabbing there." "A stabbing?? Why target a Sainsbury's??" "I don't know, Jim...I don't know..." "Well...how about Burger Shop? Or if we don't want something too expensive, we could just do Burger King-"

"BURGER KING! BURGER KING!" the girls started yelling in the background. "Well...Burger King, it is."

**\- - -**

"Thanks for taking us here, Caddy," Amy says, about to take a big bite of her Whopper Jr. "You're welcome, Amy."

I look around the place and see that it's pretty much dead in here. Other than the workers, we're the only 5 people in here. I should've just gone through the drive-thru and taken the food home.

It seems the entire town of Hereford is shaken by this stabbing. Usually, when I go to this Burger King it's crowded. Even the kids are more silent here than usual. This is strange.

Once we finish our food, I take all our garbage and throw it in the trash can. I then suddenly feel an urge to use the bathroom. "Hey, honey, I have to use it." "Alright, we'll be waiting in the car for you."

I hurry into the bathroom and try to make it quick.

And just when I close the door behind me, I hear a loud  **CRASH**!

" _What the heck was that?_ "

I hear another crash.

Then screams erupt from the kitchen nearby.

And what do I do?

I stay there, speechless and frightened, hands on my mouth, tears instantly rolling down my face. There are voices in my head telling me to man up and do something about whatever is going on and there are voices telling me to stay put and panic. I do the latter. What else can my tired, distressed self do?

I grab my hair and cry even harder as I lean on these dirty tile walls, my bladder still not emptied.

I then hear steps.

**_"WHERE ARE YOU,_ ** **_ JAMES CADDICK _ ** **_?"_ **

_Huh?_

My heart skips a beat. I hold my breath for a second. Sweat suddenly appears all over me. Who is this? Why is he looking for me?  _Why is he calling me James? Only people who don't check my Twitter still call me James! Now that I think about it, I need to disclose that in a video soon...if I don't die tonight, that is..._

The steps get even louder as they tread towards me.

_I close my eyes and I have visions of myself in the Wye again. Like in the dream I had 2 weeks ago. Except I'm attempting to swim out of it. My arms ache every stroke and I struggle. An arm grabs my leg and I end up going back underwater, breathing in the water._

I open my eyes again and I scream loudly. And once I scream, the door slams open, and before I could get a glimpse of the guy, he takes off my cap, flings it across the room, takes me by the collar and picks me up, and starts choking me.

" _You...James....you should've died....2 weeks ago_...."

I gasp for air once he lets go of my throat and shoves me towards a closed stall. " _W-what_...?" I whisper. I slowly crane my head towards him.....

..... _and it all comes back to me harder than Stormy Ascent_.

" ** _IF YOU DON'T GET THE HECK OUT OF THIS HOUSE, YOU'RE DEAD!_** "

I'm nearly hyperventilating. My teeth start feeling numb. My legs want to give up on me.

It's all clear to me now.

That's... _Olly's grandfather_.

I don't know what the heck he's doing in Hereford...but he's here.

5 years ago I went to Olly's house to help the alcoholic scumbag move in. He was super drunk one night and when I was getting a snack, he found me, screamed at and beat me, tried to kill me with a butcher knife, and that's when I ran out screaming.

He was then jailed soon after.

I don't know how long he was jailed, but I think he's escaped, or else he wouldn't be in front of me.

"You need to die Caddick."

He grabs me by the collar, pulls me towards him, and I smell the alcohol in his breath. It angers me. It makes me want to punch him. But my body refuses to.

"Listen to me. Did you really think you were gonna go on to live your happy dandy life after you started reviewing these video games? Did you think you were gonna escape this?"

He slaps me across the face, and I make a high-pitched noise and it turns into me howling in pain once he scratches my forehead. " _Let go of me...I...I have a family...._ " I murmur.

This angers him more, and he drags me over to a clogged sink that hasn't been fixed. He starts dunking me in the water.

Under that dirty water, I hear him very clearly.

" _DIE! JUST DIE! DIE IN THAT WATERY GRAVE YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO DIE IN! YOU'RE A WEAK LITTLE MAN! WE DON'T NEED A WASTE OF SPACE LIKE YOU IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE! PROVE TO ME YOU'RE WORTH SOMETHING BY PUNCHING ME! I DARE YOU! I FREAKING DARE YOU!_ "

I've had it.

I attempt to get his dirty claws off my neck, and the anger that my muscles managed to collect make me able to pull his hand off, and I raise my head from the sink and gasp for air.

" ** _I'M WORTH MORE THAN YOUR SORRY ARSE EVER WAS. I HAVE A FAMILY. I HAVE A YOUTUBE CHANNEL WITH HALF A MILLION SUBSCRIBERS. YOU DRINK YOURSELF TO DEATH AND THINK YOU'RE SUPERIOR. GUESS WHAT? YOU'RE NOT-_** "

"Look in the mirror. You are pathetic. You influenced my grandson. You are too young and pathetic to have a famil-"

" ** _SHUT UP. SHUT THE EVERLASTING HECK UP. YOU TALK LIKE THAT ABOUT MY FAMILY AND YOU_** ** _WILL_** ** _REGRET IT._** "

"...Your voice...I still hear it cracking...you should've just stayed The Guy That Ate Crap."

My fist tightens.

I close my eyes tightly.

But once I bring my fist towards him, my adrenaline rush is interrupted by a pain in my groin area.

I open my eyes... _and he's run out of there._

He just kicked me in the balls and ran out.

_I hear sirens. He's escaping the police._

I end up falling on the ground as a response to the pain...and when I look up...my pants are wet.

I swear under my breath and punch the ground.

I lost.

...Where's Cerys and the girls? Are they safe?

I try to make myself get up, grab my cap that was flung across the room and I put it back on.

Once I walk out the bathroom, I see that he broke a couple windows. So that's what the crashing sounds were.

I wipe my tears as I walk out the restaurant, and these two police officers get in my face and start talking to me. "Did Alexander Ross try to hurt you just now?" the first one says. " _Y-yes, he did...he shoved me and *sniff* tried to drown me...and he...he..._ " "It's alright, sir," the second one says. "We can tell he's done some stuff to you. Is that your wife over there calling you?"

I then hear Cerys screeching my name.

" ** _JIM! JIIIIM! COME HERE!_** "

"HONEY!"

I run as fast as I can to her and I immerse myself in her grab. I wrap my arms around her and kiss her all over. Cerys does the same to me. We both sigh in relief...and when Cerys gets a good look at what Alex did to me, she goes from being happy to crying impulsively. " _Why did he do this to you..._ "


	4. f o u r

"...Yes....yes....it's still a little sore and a scar's there but I'm okay....I'm fine, Mum, I promise..."

I look out the window in my room on the phone with my mum. Cerys broke the news to my whole family. And it got to Olly too.

How on earth did he escape prison and sneak all the way to Hereford to beat me up? How did he know where I was?

How did he know....that I had that dream...?

...He was in it.

He was one of those 4 people.

I knew that dream would come back to haunt me. There's been this pain in the pit of my stomach I felt was telling me my future didn't look good.

This Sunday's Caddicarus is gonna be late. I've said nothing about it yet.

I can't just tell everyone what happened. I need to lie about it. Everyone will think I'm faking. You know how my fanbase is.

The only reason my family doesn't think I'm crazy is because they saw the proof that he beat me. Cerys told them all the details. I told Cerys even more details. The catch is: nobody wants to believe that was Olly's grandfather. Not even Olly himself. They think I was seeing things. Even after the police has told me his name was Alex  _Ross_  and told me later he belonged back in Oxford, they all kept telling me "coincidence". He even yelled my name. My real name at that. Did Cerys not hear? Did the workers in the store not hear? Was I the only one who heard? Am I in my own world? Have I just gone  _insane_?

They'll think I'm crazy for sure when I tell them my dream has put this curse on me.

These four people are gonna come up to me at some point in real life and try to kill me. Olly's grandfather randomly showing up in Hereford of all places even though he's been isolated from the real world since before I was even doing YouTube as a job, can't just be a coincidence. This has to be some paranormal stuff. How did he track me down? How did he just know all that stuff about me?

Once I get done talking with Mum, I suddenly feel light-headed, thinking about all this stuff. I sweat profusely and I can barely stand. I quickly topple on my bed before I end up on the floor.

Am I dreaming?

Last time I checked I wasn't.

It happened a day ago. October 29th, 2017. I'm still very paranoid about it. I've been an insomniac. The dream keeps being brought back up. Drowning in the river. One of the four people bringing me down, preventing me from getting to land.

I'm exhausted. I need to make myself nap.

But I still need to work on this week's video...whether it releases on time or not.

I groan and start falling asleep anyway. Why am I caring so much about what the unsupportive fans are gonna be screaming?


	5. f i v e

**_\- a u g u s t  2 0 1 1 -_ **

I stand at the till in Waitrose, out of it. It's only been several months since I've started working here and I've already spent way too much time here among the snotty, rude customers treating me like dirt.

My old boss left. He couldn't keep working as he needed to help his sick parents. Which is sad, really. He was a nice man. He handled those snobs better than I did. He was the one person who understood me in that store.

Our new boss came in today. Donna MacFarlane. I don't know her real well yet so I can't say what I think about her, but I hope she's not a bother. She seems okay. I hope she stays that way. Because I don't need any more extra stress working in this place.

I look at the time and my shift's almost over. I start getting ready to check out, and once I start heading on my way out, I realized I'd forgotten my jacket in the office. So I hurry back and before I get to the door, I run straight into Donna.

"...James?" she asks with a strict, firm voice. She's tall and thin with glasses and light blonde hair in a bun, and she has an annoyed look on her face. "Oh, hello. I forgot my jacket so I need to go get it-" "Your hair. You look like a delinquent with it."

I run my fingers through my shoulder-length hair. How does this hair make me look bad?

I want to say something but I can't get it out. She scares me so far.

"Well? Are you going to say something?" "U-um..."

She groans and says "Fine. Go get your jacket."

I scramble in the room and grab the jacket off the chair by the door and get out. Why is she treating me like a student? I felt like I was at school for a second. What did I do? Do all of us need to look pampered? What is her definition of "pampered"?

That was really strange...

**\- - -**

"...Donna MacFarlane?" Rosie's eyes become big once I tell her the name of my new boss as we have a talk in the back garden of the house. "Yes, that's her name. She's going to be a nightmare, I'm sure. She's already called me a delinquent for my hair." " _Donna MacFarlane_......James, she was my swimming teacher 10 years ago. She was also my teacher in nursery school." "Really? How was she?" "She was horrible. She screamed at you whenever you screwed up one tiny bit, gave us ridiculous punishments, and yet she managed to stay at the school for years. Now she's at Waitrose...James, get out while you can." "Why get out? I'm making extra money." "Donna will drive you insane. It's not worth it." "I'll probably give it a few weeks...and we'll see what happens."

**\- - -**

"Caddy! Caddy!" I hear someone from down the hall at school scream my name. I look behind me and see that one of my co-workers, Benjamin, is running towards me. "So, about that new boss?" he then says. "She is crazy. My sister told me she had her as a nursery school teacher AND a swimming teacher." I tell him. "She was my older brother's driving teacher. He kept failing the test until she got replaced with a better teacher." "Seriously?? She's been everywhere...I'm gonna have to deal with her again today. She called me a delinquent because I have longish hair." "She said my red glasses make me look unprofessional." He wiggles the red glasses in front of his blue eyes.

"That's worse than any other strict teacher I've had in my school years..."

**\- - -**

A few weeks have passed. I'm supposed to give Rosie the verdict on whether or not I'm staying at Waitrose. And I honestly don't know what to say. There was one week of her commenting on how I wear my nametag or how I sometimes put my hair in a ponytail. Then there were 2 more weeks of her commenting on how the other co-workers dress in their uniforms. She eventually made us all tuck in our shirts. And she added an extra hour to my shift, and it'll be that way until I cut my hair. I'm not cutting it.

She's a nuisance but I still like the fact that I can make extra money. It's just that I now have another snobby person to deal with other than the actual customers. I need to get away from Thame once I'm out on my own...

I stand there at the till on Monday, finishing up with scanning a customer's groceries. Tonight is a very slow evening for Waitrose. I've only counted about 10 people here tonight.

Once I get done, I hear a customer yelling at Benjamin at the till behind me.

"Go faster! Faster, please! I need to be at dinner in ten minutes! Stop being such a nasty slow slob and scan faster!"

It's hard to listen to her yell at him. I've dealt with many horrible people but this is a manipulative witch. He'll probably never see her again, but knowing Benjamin, he'll never recover from this. I want to go back and help him but I can't leave this till.

Later on, I start heading to the toilet for a bathroom break when Donna stops me again.

"Caddick. I've already told you enough times to cut that disgraceful mop of yours."

I suddenly get a feeling to rebel.

"Well...this hair doesn't make me a delinquent. Compare me to any other chav at my school. I am not a delinquent."

Her eyes become big. Then her face turns red. " ** _Come with me_**."

She grabs my hand and her long finger nails scratch my arm as she grabs for me. "AAH! WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME-" " **BE QUIET, CADDICK!** "

She takes me to her office and throws me toward the wall. She grabs a pair of scissors off the desk and slowly walks toward me. " _If you aren't going to make yourself look presentable...I'll do it for you._ " She grabs my hair, pulling me toward her. She gets ready to cut a huge chunk off. "AAAAAAH!! STOP! STOP!" "STOP SCREAMING!"

She's holding me too tight for me to defend myself.

This feels like primary school where I was forced to sit still and straight. I'm getting reminded of when I was yelled at for getting out of my seat. But it wasn't as nearly as bad as this.

I then hear a woman screaming...and Donna drops me.

And so a woman with short brownish-red hair and hazel eyes comes running in, grabs Donna and throws the scissors across the room. "What are you trying to do to your employees? Stop hurting him!" "Do you know this person?" "No. I've never seen him before. But what you're doing is disgraceful. I saw you grab him. Everyone else saw you grab him. We heard the screaming. My kids saw. Let him have the hair. Don't fire him."

The woman looks behind her and says "Chloe? What are you doing talking on my phone....? Oh, great. She deserves to get arrested for what she's doing to that man..."

Donna stands there shaking, hand on her mouth. I assume the woman stunned her so I went ahead and ran out of there.

The woman has a little baby in a baby carriage and another small girl who looks 4-5. The eldest (who I think is Chloe) is calling 999 on the mother's phone. "Are you okay?? Talk to me." the woman says to me.

I struggle to get words out as I'm a nervous wreck. " _I...well, um, yes, I'm okay, I'm okay..._ " " _Oh, dear_...let's get away from this office..."

Chloe gets done on the phone and the 5 of us get away from the office area.

"So...what's your name?" the woman asks. "J-James Caddick, but you can call me Caddy," I answer. "And you?" "I'm Cerys Mackay, and these are my kids: the little baby is Amy, the middle kid is Phoebe, and the one who was just on the phone is Chloe. It's nice to meet you," she says. "Nice to meet you too, haha..."

Cerys. What a pretty name.

**\- - -**

_And so once the police got here, Donna was arrested for abusing her employees. The new boss? I couldn't believe it at first, but it was Cerys. She's apparently been looking for a job and they let her come in and be my boss. And things have been running more smoothly around here._

**_I hope to never see Donna again._ **


	6. s i x

**_\- n o v e m b e r 2 0 1 7 -_ **

_"Jim!"_

**_You look like a delinquent._ **

**_YOU'RE A WEAK LITTLE MAN! WE DON'T NEED A WASTE OF SPACE LIKE YOU IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE!_ **

_"JIM!"_

**_Stop wearing your hair like that._ **

**_You should've just stayed the guy who are crap._ **   
  


"JIM CADDICK, STOP PLAYING!"

I wake up gasping for air and clinging onto Cerys, who's been yelling at me to wake up. Crap, I must've worried her sick.

"Jim, are you okay honey?" she says. "I-it w-was another d-dream last night..." "What happened? What happened in it, honey?"

I start crying. I can't make myself talk because of how hard I cry.

Cerys gets on the bed with me and holds me tight. "You don't have to tell if you don't want to, Jim..." "...W-Waitrose, honey. Remember how we met?" ".....Yes, of course.....Donna." "She was in my dream last night. With Olly's grandfather. I wasn't  _in_  the river though, rather  _near_  it. Both of them were threatening to throw me in, though. They were yelling things at me they've already yelled but it was just as bad with both of them in the same place..."

"So do you just.... _forget_  how to swim in these dreams?" "Well, I know how in some of them, but in others I just can't do anything." "...I'm sorry honey...the best thing I can do is to hold you..."

"...It's just...ever since Olly's grandfather attacked me-" "Jim. For the last time, that was not him. That dream just kind of messed you up a little, it's over. It really was horrible what happened to you and the kids and I were worried sick, but it still wasn't who you thought it was. Olly's grandfather's name is  _Archibald_ , Jim."

I don't protest. I don't argue. I just continue to lie down with her, tears dripping onto my pillow.

**_You're too weak to speak out. Just die._ **

"...Mum? We're out of milk." Phoebe says walks in the room.

"Oh dear, I was supposed to go to the store yesterday," Cerys says. "I'll do it later," I say. "Are you sure you'll feel like it, honey." "Yes, I'm sure. I need to get out of the house anyway."


	7. s e v e n

I feel as if I'm being controlled. As if I wasn't the person playing the game, but rather the person being played.

I wanted to tell Cerys earlier that I knew for sure that was Olly's grandfather who slapped me, ridiculed me, and kicked me in the balls in the Burger King bathroom. But my body wouldn't let me. Neither would it let me escape Ross' grab.

The dreams get worse and I can't help it.

I need to hold myself together during this trip to Sainsbury's. Because I swear, if I can't go to the store without a scene happening, I don't know what I'll do.

It's been 3 hours since Cerys talked to me after waking me up. Since then, I've been working on Sunday's video for 2 hours, the one that I'm still sure will be late. It's Friday and I've only now just started the editing process. I still need to go to the store though.

So I get out of my chair and start heading up the stairs to my room and head into the bathroom. When I look in the mirror, I realize I'm super greasy...my face, hair, it's all greasy. I haven't taken a shower in 2 days. And my beard is a mess.

I quickly start throwing cold water on my face, soaping it up, and rinsing it off. I then start trimming my beard and when I get done with that, I step in the shower and start scrubbing my greasy, messy, shaggy hair until no oil is present. Then once I get out and dried, I throw on my magenta shirt, black jeans, shoes, and I slip on my black EGX cap. I just happened to get ready in a decent amount of time.

"Honey, I'm off to the store," I tell Cerys as I start heading out of the house. "Jim, why are you in such a hurry?" she tells me from the living room. "I need to get everything we need quickly as I need to finish Sunday's video." "Honey, you don't need to finish the video. You've had a very rough week and you shouldn't worry about what the fans say. Only worry about yourself. Take your time, Jim. Love you." She walks to me and she kisses me on the cheek as my hand is still on the doorknob. "Love you too."

**\- - -**

I head out the door and into my car. When I pull out of the driveway, I realize it's very cloudy out. Like, dark clouds. I could've sworn that when I was taking my shower, there was sun blaring through the window in the bathroom. And that wasn't that long ago. That was quick.

I get my mind back on the road and start heading my way to Sainsbury's.

" _THAT'S MINE!....STOP!_ "

I hear a couple of kids in the neighborhood fighting. They're yelling extremely loudly...I watch closely and make sure they don't bring out their fight into the street. Because that would end badly.

" _GO AWAY! GO AWAY!_ "

What could they be fighting about?

Then I was right. One kid grabs the other kid by the throat and he starts running with him out into the street. I shriek, honk the horn and slam on the breaks. He would've been killed right there.

Shaking with fear, I look at the kids out there and they keep wrestling in the middle of the road. One kid keeps biting on the other kid's arm until it starts bleeding. I don't have the courage to open the window and yell at them because I'm scared. I'm scared one of them's gonna come and attack me.

Instead I honk the horn. I honk it over and over again. I try to get the attention of everyone in the neighborhood. But no one notices and the kids don't move. Forget it, I'm gonna knock some sense into them.

"...HEY! YOU TWO STOP! YOU'RE BLOCKING THE ROAD!"

They still won't listen.

Then a middle-aged woman who I believe is their mum comes out and breaks up the fight. She picks the boys up by their collars and they hang there, biting and scratching to try and continue the fight. Then she walks to me.

"How  _dare_  you yell at my children like that? How dare you? If you  _ever_  yell at my kids like that again,  _I'm setting them off on_ ** _you_**."

The kids stop scratching at each other and they look at me with an evil smirk on their faces.

She walks away with the kids. And as soon as she slams the door to her house after she walks in, hard rain immediately starts pouring. I pull up the window and I pull right out of the neighborhood as fast as I can.

"... _This had better go quick._ "

**\- - -**

After I get parked in my spot, I quickly rush in the store before I get too soaked in the rain.

When I walk in, I see a decent amount of people, but nobody is talking to each other. It seems as if everyone is trying to be as silent as possible. All I hear is the music blaring through the speakers and the beeps of the groceries being scanned, but that's it.

I look to the side of me and I see two workers, both girls, whispering to each other, and then they start laughing loudly and hysterically. One of them almost ends up on the floor. The other silent people in the store stop what they're doing and look at them.

I quickly scoot away from that and get to where I need to be.

What is  _up_  with people lately?

_Come on, Jim. Get your mind off it._

First on the list: milk. All the way at the back of the store. Wonderful.

I grab a basket and walk through the aisles with lifeless drones stuffing items into their carts and whatnot. The sound of my shoes hitting the linoleum floor seems to echo throughout the store with every step, as most people can't seem to take their eyes off me.

Then I hear someone speak.

"...It's him."

I stop walking and look around to see who it was. And an old woman was staring at me, as if she's seeing far into my inner workings.

I gulp quietly and keep on making my way to the milk.

The jazz playing throughout the store starts getting louder suddenly. I feel smaller and the store starts seeming emptier. I look back and see the woman disappeared, along with some other people.

Oh God, what's happening this time?

The lights flicker.

_Jim. Just keep on going. Stop imagining things for God's sake._

I get to the milk and once I put it in the basket, the PA system comes on.

"... _Attention shoppers...due to inclement weather, we won't be able to-_ ** _AAAH!_** "

The announcer was cut off, but the system is still on, so the static remains to sound throughout the store. The music has stopped and I think I'm the only one in this part of the store. What in the world happened to the announcer??

Then I remember my dream.

"... _Donna_."


	8. e i g h t

I almost end up shrieking when my finger runs through my shoulder-length hair long enough for Donna to cut.

I try to control my breathing, but at this point I've dropped the basket on the floor.

The PA system comes on once again.

"... _Would Jim Caddick please come to me?_..."

That familiar voice hits me like nails on a chalkboard. I suddenly feel the need to vomit.

Should I come up there and deal with her? I wussied out at Burger King, which resulted in me having worse symptoms. If I stand up this time and work through it, maybe I'll be more determined when I find out who the next two people are.

I'm gonna do it. I've sat down far too much before and that's gonna have to change.

Still shaking, I reach into the pocket of my jeans and find the hair tie that was still in there a while back. I take my cap off and tie my hair up in a small ponytail, then put the cap back on. I roll the sleeves of my Bloodborne jacket up and put both of my hands in the pockets of it. I trudge through the aisles, making my way to the office where Donna is.

" _I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do this._ " I repeat.

And I keep repeating that, until I get to the hall that leads to the office. I continue walking through the dark hall to the office, but I start shaking again.  _You can do this, Jim_.

My hand opens the door...and the second I open it, an old, clammy hand grabs my arm and and I scream. Donna starts choking me and putting her scissors up to my throat.

" **GET YOUR HAIR OUT OF THAT PONYTAIL! NOW!** "

I've completely lost control of my breathing and my teeth start feeling numb. I try as hard as I can pull her arms off of me. "...No, I won't. I WON'T TAKE IT OUT!"

I look at Donna and see that she looks like a different person now. Her formerly blond hair is gray and most of it is missing, and her skin is prickly. Her glasses are broken and her eyes are bloodshot. Did she...come back from the dead?

"Jim."

She drops the scissors, walks behind me and grabs my ponytail. She yanks it very hard and throws me on the ground, resulting in me shrieking from the pain. I feel my hair and realize she took out the ponytail.

"Jim."

"Y-yes...?"

"You haven't learned, have you?"

"Learned  _what?_ "

"After you leave Waitrose, the rules don't leave, Caddick."

"If you couldn't tell, this is a  _Sainsbury's_."

She grabs my arm and stands me up, then makes cuts on my face with the scissors. "AHHH! STOP! STOP!" " _Don't smart aleck me, Caddick_."

After she gets done with that, she continues to talk. "As I was saying, after you leave Waitrose, the rules don't leave. You're still expected to look decent to set an example for future workers, no matter where you move, no matter what happens, no matter what  _period_." "I don't remember you ever telling me that.  _You never told me that_." "Well you know now. And that hair is going,  _whether you like it or not_."

She starts running towards me, with two large sharp scissors in her hands, and I  ** _run_**.

"THINK ABOUT IT, CADDICK! YOU DON'T NEED THAT WOMAN! YOU JUST NEED WAITROSE! YOU NEED  _ME_!"

" **NO! YOU'RE** ** _DEAD!_** "

She chases me out of the office, and out of the store. I run out into the pouring rain, hyperventilating, holding onto my cap, trying not to trip on my own feet. The entire parking lot is empty, apart from my car. I unlock the door and try open it,  _but it won't open_. Crap.

"COME ON! OPEN! OPEN!  **OPEN, GODDARN IT!** " I scream. I look behind me and see that Donna is closer to me. I keep running farther away.

I run so fast through empty Hereford in the pouring rain and blowing wind, that I can barely hear anything anymore. I hear Donna's screams echoing. My world goes in slow motion.

My feet plodge through the puddles which get deeper and wetter. At this point it looks like I went swimming with all my clothes on.

And before I know it, I don't pay attention to where I'm going and I trip on a slat of wood on the dock on the lake right by my neighborhood. I end up on the edge of the dock. One step further and I'd be in the water.

I stand up and look back to see if she's caught up. And I scream when I see her right behind me.

It turns out Donna can run faster than I think; she's already about to push me in the water.

She grabs my neck and pulls me close to her face. "Jim... _can you swim?_ " "...Yes, I can. And I'm  _sure_  I can do it  _miles_  better then you can."

She takes my hair tie that she kept with her and ties it tight around my hands, then she holds me over the water.

" _Now_  can you swim?"

".......Yes."

" **NOW CAN YOU SWIM?** "

She pushes me into the water, and I sink down to the bottom as my hands are tied up. The hectic world on the surface was paused by me hitting the water and only hearing the bubbly, gurgling sounds of underwater. My cap fell off, and when I look up I see it's floating on the surface. I figure it would be relatively easy to get the hair tie off, but she actually managed to make it really tight. I try to keep as much breath in and I try to break out of the tie, but it's not working so far. I try not to panic too much, and I keep trying to get it off. Fortunately, I saw a pair of scissors Donna probably dropped float down, and I was able to grab onto them and use them to cut off the tie. It was hard but I managed to do it without cutting myself.

I start to swim up, and once I get up to the surface, I gasp for air, grab my cap floating on the water and put it on, and look straight at Donna. " _...Yes...yes, I can swim._ ** _Stop saying I can't._** " I tell her as I tread the waters.

She says nothing. She only stares at me with her cold, empty face.

"... _You couldn't teach Rosie crap so she had to learn by herself. You're the reason my old friend's brother has gotten into multiple RTAs. You're the reason I can't look at a Waitrose the same again._ ** _LEAVE ME ALONE!_** "

The next time I blink, she's gone.

"... _Where did she go_...?"


	9. n i n e

I start swimming out of the lake as quickly as I can, then I start running to my house as it's close. I climb over the fence and end up in the backyard, then I sprint to the back door into the living room.

"...Jim?"

That's Cerys in the kitchen.

" **HONEY!** ** _HONEY!_** "

I run to the kitchen, and I nearly slip on the floor as I'm soaking wet. I grab onto the counter to prevent myself from falling, and Cerys sports a shocked look on her face. "Jim, what the heck happened to you??" " _I..I..Donna...honey, Donna showed up, Donna-_ " "Woah, woah, wait, what?" "People in the store disappeared, then Donna came and made these cuts on my face, and then she tried to cut my hair and the door to my car wouldn't open and she chased me through town and threw me in the lake with my hands tied so she could drown me and-" "Jim, calm down. What do you mean Donna came back? She died 3 years ago!" "I'm not joking Cerys. Look at these cuts on my face. Look at the water that's dripping from me." "Jim. Please stop all this nonsense. I want you to find where these scissors are. And if you lost the keys to our car, find them now. If you're going to act like this every time you go somewhere, we're just gonna have to leave you here until you shape up." "The scissors and keys are most likely in the lake." "Please, just don't-" "IF YOU WANT PROOF, I'LL GIVE YOU PROOF."

I start running back outside and to the lake, and Cerys starts behind me. "JIM, JUST STOP!"

I run back into the water until I'm able to tread, and I take a deep breath and swim back under the water, looking around the same place I was when I was trying to get off the hair tie. And sure enough, I find the pair of scissors and the remains of the hair tie, along with the keys to the car.

I swim back to the surface and hold the three items up in the air once I get there to show her the proof.

".... **HERE'S YOUR PROOF!** " I yell.

"...Jim, you've gone completely insane."

"What do you mean? The proof is right here in my hands."

"Those are  _PLIERS_."

I look at the scissors in my hand. They feel like scissors. They look like scissors. I'm holding them like scissors. What is she talking about?

"Come on, Jim. We're taking my car back to Sainsbury's so you can go and get your car."

**\- - -**

_I've been put on a curse, I know it_ , I think as I ride in the car back to Sainsbury's.

I'm seeing something, and Cerys sees something completely different. Now she's questioning my sanity. In reality some crazy curse has been put on me. And I need to find a way to lift it.


	10. t e n

**_\- s a t u r d a y ,  n o v e m b e r  1 8 t h -_ **

I open my eyes as I hear an airplane fly over our house. I realize that I'm lying on the couch in the living room and I remembered I just fell asleep here as I was watching TV before I went to bed.

The early morning sun shines through the window in front of me. I hear nothing but the sounds of birds chirping outside.

I just realized something. I've gone about two weeks without any dreams or any of my past haunting me. It's like what happened when I had my first ever dream like this on the week of the Knack video: I had a dream, then it wouldn't be for two more weeks when you-know-what happened at Burger King. I guess this curse is preparing me for something even worse? But anyways, Cerys and the girls seem to have forgotten about it.

After Donna, I had to end up posting the new Caddicarus a day late, but not too many people were bothered by it, thank goodness. I've seemed to have maintained a decent schedule since, which is a relief.

My stomach growls and I get off the couch to get a little something to eat.

When I walk over to the kitchen, Cerys isn't there. I guess I'm the first one awake.

I open the fridge and dig around for something to eat. I see a can of Pepsi and I crack it open as I continue to look for something, when someone comes running in and shuts the fridge before I could keep looking.

" **JIM!**  WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING!?" "...Getting breakfast?" "RUTH, JIM! RUTH! WE FORGOT!"

I gasp and almost drop my Pepsi on the ground. "Well, when are we supposed to be there??" I ask. "We need to be in Rhayader by 14:00. And it's 10. We overslept!" "It shouldn't really take us more than a few hours to get there, should it?" "Exactly! We need to get ready quick!"

So we rush up the stairs and Cerys knocks on the kids' doors, yelling at them to wake up and pack up. " _ **GIRLS! WAKE UP! WE OVERSLEPT!**_ "

"...What's going on, Mummy?" "But it's Saturday!" Phoebe and Amy say when they open their door.

"...Chloe! CHLOE!  _WAKE UP!_ " Cerys walks into Chloe's room and she's still in a deep sleep. "COME!  **ON!** "

She slowly opens her eyes and pulls her covers over her face, and Cerys sighs. "Chloe, we need to pack up quickly and head to Aunt Ruth's, or she's not gonna be real happy with us. Now get up." She growls and mopes over to her suitcase. " _Faster_ , Chloe."

While the girls pack up and get freshened up, Cerys and I head to our room and start getting ourselves ready. We quickly throw anything we can into our suitcases and make sure we're getting a decent amount of clothes in them. We're still not sure how many nights we'll be staying.

I run over to the bathroom and start running a comb through my hair and then start brushing my teeth while I throw on my clothes, toothbrush still in my mouth. I finish brushing my teeth, pull on my shoes, and after several minutes, I'm pretty much ready.

So once we all finish packing, we do a quick rundown of what we've packed and make sure we have everything we need. And I'm sure glad we did that rundown because I almost forgot my phone.

"Well then, let's go ahead and start loading all of this in the car," I say.

**\- - -**

"...Jim, I'm proud of you." Cerys tells me after we've been on the road for about an hour. "What do you mean, honey?" "Those episodes you've had since those dreams?" "What about them?" "You pulled through really well since then, Jim. It's almost as if you completely forgot since you tried to show me those scissors at the lake. What happened to you at Burger King was horrible, but even after that you seemed to recover decently. You've gotten so much better in the past 2 weeks."

I smile. "Thanks, honey."

It's nice to have some positive conversation with Cerys.

It's completely quiet as the girls have fallen back asleep once they got in the car and all I can hear is the sound of the tires on the tarmac ground. The gorgeous Wales landscape surrounds me as I drive on, and it's actually sunny for once in the UK.

_I'm strong. I can do this. If I could recover so quickly, then Alex and Donna must be helping me rather than making me suffer a long lasting depression. I mean, I stood up to both of them, but I obviously didn't win. At least I still had the audacity to yell at them._

_I've got two people left. Two dreams and two comebacks left. I need to find out how I can lift this curse before it possibly haunts me forever, no matter what anyone else thinks. Just because Cerys and I can see the same stuff now doesn't mean the curse has been lifted yet, because I have ways to go..._


	11. e l e v e n

**_- a n  h o u r  l a t e r -_ **

"What was her address again?" I ask. "386 Wellington Road, I believe."

We've reached Rhayader, and it's what I sort of expected: a strange small town in the Welsh countryside. Funnily enough, the River Wye flows through it. Huh.

The girls have woken up and they've been telling us stories of Aunt Ruth. And something tells me I'm in for a treat.

"One time when she was watching us a couple years ago, she had brought a whole bunch of candles," Chloe says. "She had stacks of them all over the house but she never lit any up."

" _How could you bring yourself to come here, honey?_ " I ask Cerys. "Well, I mean, there's  _consequences_ , Jim." "Consequences...?"

**\- - -**

We pull up to a shabby-looking cottage with a long gravel road leading up to it. The smooth sound of the tires on the tar ground changes to the rough, bumpy consistency of a gravel ground. "Well, here we are."

So we get out of the car and start unloading, and once we head to the door, we hear a growling noise. "What's that..?" Phoebe asks.

" _...Oh dear._ " Cerys murmurs. "What is it, honey?" "I'd forgotten my other sister moved here with her kids. They're a lot of trouble. The girls haven't met her before..."

I start shaking after she tells me that. I gingerly bring my arm to the doorbell and ring it. Nobody comes.

"... _Well then_." I whisper.

Then the door slams open and a large lady in a robe with her two rowdy boys is at the door... _wait a minute_.

The lady looks at us for a second and says ". _ **..CERYS! IT'S BEEN 6 YEARS!**_ " She then hugs Cerys tight. "Why hello...Emily... _long time no see..._ " "I see you've never met the twins! They just celebrated their 6th birthday last week! On the left here is Henry, and on the right is George." Emily holds her boys close to her, leashes on them. Both of the twins have nicely combed blonde hair, though George has a bad cowlick. That's all how I can tell them apart, other than that. Once they look at me, they give me a threatening look, like they're going to bite me. They then start growling and trying to jump on me, and I nearly ended up shrieking, falling on my back and rolling down the hill the house is on. Thankfully that didn't happen. "Don't worry, they usually do that when there's new people at the house. Especially bearded men, that  _really_  sets them off..."

The five of us file in the house and neatly place our luggage by the stairs. I observe the place: it's an old house that looks as if it was built in the early 1900s. The wood floor creaks with every step I take and it feels like the floor's gonna collapse under me. The old wallpaper is fading and the ceiling has water damage. And there's a mildewy stench. "Well, this place looks... _just_  as amazing as it was the last time I was here." Cerys says, feigning her love for the interior. "Why, thank you Cerys...oh,  _who is that man over there?_ "

I turn around and see that Emily is looking right at me. "Oh, that's my boyfriend Jim Caddick. Say hi, Jim!" "... _Call me Caddy_." I tell Emily. " _Caddy...what a ridiculous nickname..._ "

I groan.

**\- - -**

"...So, um, I moved from Sheffield to Worcester in 2011 and had the twins..."

Emily has sat down me and the girls in Ruth's living room to tell us her life story, which is one of the most boring things I've had to sit through. And I've had to sit through Croc 2 and Cool Boarders 3. And even Cerys at the other side of the room was out of it.

" _Hey!_...um, how about we go and check out where we'll be sleeping?" Cerys suggests, interrupting Emily's  _important_  story about her taxes. "Oh, right! The twins and I had taken the last guest bedroom when we moved in last year, but this couch folds out into a bed..."

She gets off the couch and opens the fold out bed, and Cerys and I test it out to see if it's worth spending the night in this house and not in a hotel instead. And it's not worth it: the bed doesn't have any kind of bounce or comfort to it. It's like lying down on concrete.

"Um...yeah, I think we'll be checking into a hotel tonight."

Suddenly, I hear a squeal that I think almost broke my eardrums. " _ **AAAAH! IT'S THE GIRLS!**_ "

Ruth runs through the front door into the living room and grabs the girls into a giant hug. "What have you three been up to in the last 3 years?" she asks. " _I started school!_ " Amy proudly announces. "You  **DID?** " Phoebe and Amy look as if they don't want to be here at all.

While Ruth continues to gush over the girls, I take a good look at her and I recognize her too:  _she's the same red-haired lady who showed up at my house with Amy's fake grades and laughed hysterically at Sainsbury's_.

She looks behind her and sees me there. "And who are  _you?_ " Cerys then butts in. "This is my boyfriend Ji-" " _Caddy_. I'm  _Caddy_."

Happiness keeps erupting around the room as Emily and Ruth keep catching up with Cerys, and I just sit here on this uncomfortable couch wondering what's gonna go down with these girls.

I can't  _wait_  to see what's gonna happen in the next 24 hours.


	12. t w e l v e

**_\- a t n i g h t -_ **

"Does anyone want more pizza?" Ruth asks, holding a box of pizza that hasn't been eaten. "Me! Me!" Amy and Phoebe rush to the box.

We've been sitting in the living room tonight, watching TV and eating pizza. My tired self was lying on the couch the entire time, while all the girls were going crazy over what was on TV. Probably someone on The X Factor, I can't really tell nor do I really care. Even Cerys was really getting into this, and she was just as nervous about coming here as I was.

"AAH! He has such a great voice!" "I know, right?"

All of that was starting to give me a headache, and it was getting to the point where I'd rather hang out with those insane boys than them. I then remember that I'm supposed to be taking my anxiety meds tonight.

" _Um_ , I'll be right back, I guess," I tell them. They ignore me.

I walk back into the foyer and before I take my meds, I head into the kitchen and look for something to eat.

" _I don't even like pizza anyway,_ " I mumble to myself.

I go over to the plastic bag full of stuff we brought from our house sitting on the counter. I look at it and find a bag of Monster Munch. I crack open the bag and eat the first one when I look to my side and see George and Henry looking at me.

I jump at the sight of them, not knowing they were there. Did they just appear out of nowhere?

" _Well, hello, boys..._ "

They aren't threatening to bite me, yet. They keep messing with something on the ground, probably a speck of dust or something like that. I quietly continue to finish my snack, and I awkwardly watch them fool around while I do so. I'm too nervous to try and stop them.

After what felt like hours, I finish my bag and I go over to the foyer where my backpack still is and get out my meds, only to have someone snatch it out of my hands.

I look behind me, and it seems that the boys have followed me in here.

"... _Please_ give me that back."

They aren't handing it back.

"I said give me that back."

_...God, Jim, you're so stupid! Now you're going to set them off!_

They both charge off into the living room, instead of biting my arm off. What are they doing with that?

A few seconds later, everything is quiet. The screams from the girls and the sounds of the TV that have been echoing throughout the house are now gone.

I peek into the living room and see that all the girls are crowded around the boys, looking at the bottle of meds.

Emily then slowly cranes her head towards me, shaking in fear.

"You...you... _freak_."

Ruth then looks at me. And Cerys and the kids look at me too. Why them?

"Can you explain  _this_ to me?" She says, holding up the bottle of pills.

I can only stand there in awe. Why are my girlfriend and kids treating me like they've never seen me in their lives?

Wait.

**_Emily and Ruth are the third and fourth persons._ **

She could've put them under some spell that forces them to be on their side. I mean, what else could it be?

Even though I've never met her until now, this curse found a way to make the present haunt me.

"Well, aren't you going to say anything, Caddick?"

My fists tighten just watching the scene in front of me unfold, but I resort to screaming as loud as I can and running up the stairs, as the boys then start to chase me

" ** _AHHHH! AHHH! HONEY!_** " I yell.

I know Cerys and the kids are hypnotized. I still yell anyway. What else can I do?

I run through the upstairs, the wood floor sounding like it's threatening to give up on me with every step and leap I take.

I find the bathroom and lock myself in it, taking a breather and slumping onto the ground. The boys get to the door and start kicking and punching at it, startling me.

Then I see the window. That's my only way out.

I try opening the window, but for some crazy reason, it was  _glued shut_. Guess I shouldn't be surprised at it's Ruth's house.

I punch the wall and swear. As the kicking at the door gets worse, I desperately look for something to break the window with. And it seems like this bathroom has been completely child-proofed. My God.

Once I realize there's nothing else I can do, the boys finally break the door open and leap on me. " ** _AAAAAAAHHH! GET OFF! GET OFF OF ME!_** "

George takes off my cap and starts pulling at my hair, Henry bites my arms, and I stay there on the floor, crying and screaming.

I open my eyes, sight blurry as they're filled with tears, and see Emily and Ruth standing right there, arms crossed.

"Good boys," I hear her say. " _Finish off that freak_."

" _I'm not a freak_ ," I mumble.

"What did you say?" says Emily. The boys stop attacking me.

"I said,  ** _I AM NOT A FREAK_**." My voice cracks as I'm still in the middle of crying.

Ruth comes over and slaps me in the face, grabs my collar and sits me up, and slaps me again.

"How are you not a freak? This bottle of pills exposes you as a person. You're going to kill my sisters. I just know it. You're a freak.  _You need to suffer_ ** _consequences_**."

Ruth grabs me and starts running with me down the stairs, through the living room, and out the back. She runs extremely fast and her claws almost sink into my skin with how tight she's holding onto me.

After running through the grass fields, she eventually gets to a well, and she holds me down the hole.

"AAAH! DON'T! DON'T DROP ME! PLEASE!  _I BEG YOU!_ " "Why even worry anymore, Jim? Your family doesn't care about you right now. Your channel is dying. You have nothing to stay alive for."

She holds me lower to where she's only holding onto my feet, and I scream louder. Once again, I know no one can help me, but I still yell.

" **YOU ARE A FREAK AND THAT IS THAT, JIM CADDICK. YOU'RE GOING TO SWIM IN HERE UNTIL YOU** ** _DROWN_** **AND THAT IS** ** _FINAL_** **!** "

Ruth lets go of my feet, and I'm now falling into the well.  
  
  


**_SPLASH!_ **


	13. t h i r t e e n

_\- i n  t h e  w e l l -_

_Darkness_. All I can see is  _darkness_. Ruth's thrown me in the well. And there's no possible way out. I look up and I see that it's a rather long way up, and the only bit of light I have in here is the moon shining into the well. And it's not much light. At all.

_Ruth and Emily think they can stop me...? Seriously? I've gathered enough anger in the past few minutes or so, and their heavy force has stopped me from attacking them. I was ready to fight back, call the cops, gather my family, and call it a day, but it couldn't happen. They're just too_ _ strong _ _._

_I seriously need to find a way out of here, or I'm gonna drown._

How  _am_  I gonna get out of here? The best thing I can do is try to climb on the walls. The stones that make up the walls of the well are pretty pointy, so I could try to climb out.

I float over to a part of the wall where the stones look the most pointy, and I grab onto one and start to climb up. And it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. It works out fine at first, but then, all the stones I was holding onto dissolve. And I end up back in the water. Of course. I shouldn't have relied on those stones as this curse would do anything to screw me over at this point.

Just after I reach the surface, a hole is punched in the wall behind me, and I duck under again as the stones come flying.

I float under the water, arms shielding my head as I hold my breath a bit too hard. I feel scared to come up, so I just stay there, in that same position. But once I feel the need to come up for air, I quickly blow out the bubbles I've been keeping in and gasp for air once again when I surface.

I look at the hole and see that nobody's in it. What could've possibly happened underground to warrant a hole being punched if no one's there?

I try to pull myself up out of the water to see inside the hole, but I sink back in the water in fear someone or something's gonna pop out.  _Jim, you idiot! You never know what could be back there!_  I think to myself.

I breathe in, breathe out, man up and pull myself back up to look inside the hole. And I see a tunnel. So I start crawling through it - trying to make out where I'm going in the dark - and I find myself in a large, damp, humid cave. It's very dark in there, and the only way I can see the cave is a candle sitting in the middle of the cave.

I get off my knees and walk over to the candle. It gives off a very strange... _alcohol_  scent.

Water is still dripping from me and a drop falls on the flame and puts it out. Now I can't see a thing.

"...Hello...?"

My voice echos throughout the spacious cave.

"...Anyone here...?"

" _Mr. Caddick?_ "

Someone's here to see me.

Then, the flame on the candle lights itself up again. I notice that the candle is sitting on a candleholder, so I could bring the candle with me while I look for who wants to see me, which is lovely.

I pick up the candle and start walking around the cave, looking for where I should start. The candle is very bright and it lights up the entire cave pretty much.

I found another little tunnel for me to crawl through, so I get back down on my knees and start crawling through it.

I'm cold, wet, tired, and I'm terrified I'm gonna contact hypothermia or something if I don't get somewhere warmer. This candle isn't really helping all that much. 

_Suddenly, I get a flash of memory. This time of year in November 2007. I looked at my hands, scrapes on them from bullies picking at me and throwing me in the woods. "That's where you belong, Mr. Tumnus," they told me._

I look at my hands now, Oddworld scars on them, carrying a candle, slowly warming myself up and trying to light my way through this tunnel.

_Meds. I need my meds. I don't know what happened to them but I need my meds. My head keeps spinning with all these thoughts, flashbacks and hallucinations. It's making it harder trying to lift this curse._ _I need my meds._

" _Mr. Caddick!_ "

The voice gets louder. I'm almost there.

And before I know it, I see a light in the distance, not belonging to my candle. I crawl closer to it, and the ceiling starts getting a bit higher.

Once I get there, I see a warm fire going on in a fire pit, warming me up almost instantly. I blow out my candle, not needing it anymore. Behind the fire pit is an old lady, jotting down something in a notebook. She looks up from her notebook and sees me there, and her eyes almost become dilated.

"...Mr. James Caddick." "Jim," I correct her. "Oh, Jim. Sorry dear. Come sit here, I need to have a word with you."

I walk over to her and sit on the damp cave ground next to her. I look over at her notebook and see that she's not writing, she's drawing. "This is a peice I'd like to call ' _Decline_ '," She tells me. The picture is a sketch of a beer bottle with a pair of scissors right by it. "My name is Elizabeth. Did my husband Alex try to hurt you?" She asks, continuing to draw. " _Yes...he did..._ " I answer.

_That's the old lady that looked at me funny at Sainsbury's. She's Olly's grandmother._

"He threatened to kill me when I was at Olly's house helping Alex move in," I continue. "and 5 years later this curse is put on me and he appears in Hereford and beats me up. However, everyone around me wasn't hearing or seeing the same things as me. My girlfriend thought your husband's name was ARCHIBALD. I know for sure this more than just mental health stuff." "It isn't, sweetheart," she says. "This really is a curse you've been put on, that's definitely true." "But I just want to know  _WHY_  I've been put on this curse, and  _HOW_  I can lift it. Do you know??" "You've never done anything bad from what I can infer, you seem like such a sweet young man. Why I think you've been put on this curse, is not because of you, but because of this YouTube thing that everyone seems to be all about. I hear that these nasty people talking about your videos have a negative impact on you. I can't really tell you how you can lift the curse, but I will tell you one thing..."

A tear runs down her cheek.

" _The worst is about to be thrust upon you. That's all I can tell you_."

She starts bawling in her hands, and through her muffled voice I could make out these words: " _Why did you have to desert me...why did you have to traumatize this great man..._ "

She leans on my shoulder and I let out a sigh of despair.

My ears perk up when I start hearing a strange sound, and the next time I blink, Elizabeth is gone.

Suddenly, the big fire goes out, and it's dark once again.

" _H-hello? Elizabeth? Anyone?_ "

...

_CRASH!_

I'm nearly knocked down to the ground with a giant wave of water. After a quick recovery from the impact, I peek my head up to the surface and see that the cave is filling up with water. Luckily I'm not treading water yet. I see that the candle has lit back up, able to stay lit underwater. I grab the candle and try to start crawling back through the tunnel before I have to start seriously swimming. And it's already halfway there.

Unfortunately, when I'm halfway through the tunnel, my head's already on the very top of the ceiling, struggling to get my last breath. I gasp and push myself under the water, and I start swimming through the rest of the tunnel, hopefully with enough air.

I end up lucky as I only have a fingernail of breath left once I get out of the tunnel. I rapidly swim to the surface and I'm in the same cave I was in when I started. I gasp for air quickly and don't stop to look at my surroundings. I go ahead and get back under the water and continue to get back to where I came from.

I swim through the tunnel I originally came from, not as long as the tunnel I crawled through to get to Elizabeth. When I get back out into the well, I see that the surface is all the way to the top of the well this time. So I finally surface, gasp for air one more time, and pull myself out of the well. I stand up for a second, but I end up falling down on the ground, out of breath.

My hands are on the grass, shaking and keeping me up about several inches. I try to control my breathing. My arms and legs are already aching. I'm a mess.

Then I see, a few feet away from me, the box of meds.

I crawl over to them as fast as I can, pick up the box, and run light speed back into the house.

Once I get in there, the lights are turned off and nobody's downstairs. Has everyone gone to bed?

I get some clothes out of my suitcase, run into the bathroom, shut the door and lock it. I start taking off all of my soaking wet clothes, tears falling down my cheeks while I do so.

I look into the mirror, my longish brown hair soaked and sticking to my head and neck, water drops dripping from everywhere. My hazel eyes frequently change color, from green, to dark brown, to light brown, and back to the hazel mix, most likely representing the fact that I have to prepare for some real crap.

I put my hands down on the counter, let out a sigh, and say to myself: " _You're Caddicarus. You're bigger than them. Stop sitting down and crying. You can do this_."

I get a towel and run it through my hair and the rest of my body. I pull on the clothes that I brought with me, then I sip some water from the sink and take my meds. Once again I feel in control.

I then grab the e-cig out of my bag, breathe in some of the blueberry steam and blow it back out, not caring about the stench it's going to bring into the house. I don't care at this point. They deserve it anyway.

" _The worst is about to be thrust upon me_ ," I repeat to myself. " _The worst is about to be thrust upon me_."

I walk out of the bedroom and head up the stairs.

_Where's Cerys and the girls?_

I hear giggling coming from an open door on the other side of the hall. So I walk over there and see Cerys in a bed looking on her phone, and Amy, Phoebe, and Chloe in an air mattress, laughing. "Oh, hello Jim! Where have you been?" "...Oh, um...I was napping on the couch and came up here to see what all the hubbub was about." "Ruth and Emily said they were going to make beds out of blankets and sheets in the boys' room and sleep in there with them so we could sleep in here! Wasn't that nice Jim?" I look to the side, nod my head and say "Yeah. Yeah it was."

I walk over to the bed and get in beside Cerys. I put my arms around her and she looks at me. " _Your hair looks wet._ " " _Well, I, uh...I took a shower._ "

She gives me a kiss. "Goodnight, Jim." "Goodnight, honey."

The girls start to quiet down and we all start heading to sleep.

_The worst is about to be thrust upon me._


	14. f o u r t e e n

**\- s u n d a y ,  n o v e m b e r  1 9 t h -**

I slowly open my eyes, the morning sun shining on them, my tired self lying in the bed that's now feeling more spacious. I turn over to the other side and see that Cerys isn't in the bed anymore. I then sit up and see that the girls aren't in the air mattress anymore.

Then I grab a whiff of bacon in the air. Are Ruth and Emily actually doing something productive with their lives and making breakfast?

I rub my eyes and ruffle my hair, then I grab my PlayStation cap off the nightstand and put it on. I get off the bed and start heading out of the room and down the stairs, the smell getting stronger with each step I take.

"... _Have you heard about the Christmas tree lighting they're doing in town_..?" "... _The girls are doing wonderful in school_..."

Ruth, Emily and Cerys are engaging in conversation with each other as I walk towards the kitchen, and when I peek in the kitchen, the three Mackay sisters are at the table with their plates of bacon, beans, toast, and eggs, while the kids sit at the table and look at each other confused.

"...Oh, Jim! Hi, honey! Come on in! We have plenty of food for you!"

Of course Cerys doesn't know that her and her kids were hypnotized by her sisters last night to believe I'm a freako serial killer. If I told her she was brainwashed she'd try to pick a fight.

I quietly sit down at the table and grab a couple pieces of toast. "Don't you want more to eat, honey?" Cerys asks. "It's fine, I'm not really hungry this morning."

Ruth and Emily look at me with glee on their faces, as if nothing ever happened. Then Emily says to me: "Oh, Caddy, we're going to miss you and the girls so much when you leave today."

"...You know what,  _me too_."

Emily and Ruth strike a conversation with each other and I give them a cheeky stink eye. They don't seem to notice, but I'm sure they know deep down inside. I'm surprised they haven't decided to get scared yet as I'm going to let out so much anger on them when "the worst is thrust upon me".

**\- - -**

We finish up breakfast and then Cerys, the kids and I start loading the car up after we get dressed and freshened up.

"Well, we made it through, Jim. A whole 24 hours with them," Cerys starts as she shuts the trunk of the car. "It actually went more smoothly than usual, didn't it?" "Yeah, it sure did...it really sure did..."

When I start walking to the car door, I trip a little on the faulty gravel ground and my backpack, only being held by one strap, flips over. One of the pockets was left open, and the only thing that goes falling out of it is a... _sketchbook_?

Maybe it could be Chloe's. Cerys'? I don't draw. I never draw. Last time I properly drew something was 10 years ago.

I pick up the sketchbook and flip it to the first page...and I should've expected to see it all along. It's the picture Mrs. Ross drew of the beer bottle and the scissors, or what she called "Decline". And there was something added on the picture: a box of meds. Of course.

"...Honey? What are you doing?" Cerys asks.  I quickly close the sketchbook and shove it back in the backpack. "Oh, nothing, I'm just about to put my backpack in the trunk. Don't know why I was taking it with me, heh heh."

I put the backpack in the trunk and get in the car, and once everyone's settled, we start heading back home.


	15. f i f t h t e e n

**_\- t h a t  n i g h t -_ **

" _You're bigger than them_."

I look at myself in the mirror in my own bathroom in my own home, a buzzcut now on my head. It's nearly midnight, the kids are in bed, everything is quiet, and I'm trying to calm myself down.

Earlier today, the 5 of us settled back home from Rhayader, and the second I walked in my room, I was sitting on my bed and wondering what this big comeback of all four people would be, exactly.  I don't know if it'll happen tomorrow, and I don't know if it'll happen in a couple of weeks. You never know with this curse.

" _You're bigger than them, Jim..._ "

I yawn as it's getting late. I've had a long couple of days and I'm ready to crash. So I go ahead and walk out of the bathroom to my bed, but the second I fall on the bed, Cerys barges into the room, looking pissed.

Startled, I tell her "Honey, what's wrong? You're going to wake up the kids!" "I swear, if that stupid dream is still making you paranoid..." "Wait, what??"

"I know what you've been thinking about, Jim. I can tell. You've acted strange around my sisters." "Because they were awful to me. Your sisters are acting better towards you because they  _brainwashed_  you. Last night the boys got found my meds, showed them to Emily, then the boys came and beat me up, Ruth took me and dragged me out into the back, and threw me into the well. Even you and the kids were acting all shocked and perceiving me as a freak even though you guys already knew I was taking meds."

Cerys looks at me with wide eyes, and then sinks her head into her hands. "You really have gone mad..." "You think that because you were  _BRAINWASHED_  honey. You didn't know that happened. You and the kids were on mind control. You were being controlled. But I saw it. I know it happened. It wasn't a dream. I bet you can't see this scar on my arm from the boys beating me, because of the brainwashing from those four people. I bet if I showed you the picture Olly's grandmother, who I found deep in the caves beyond the well, drew for me, it would just be a blank sheet of paper. I've been put on a curse, and you don't believe it. Nobody does-"

She slaps me in the face.

My shaking hand slowly feels the mark she made on my cheek. My voice trembles, and I look back at her, a single tear flowing down.

" _You aren't you...I'm not me...no one is anybody...until I lift this curse,_ ** _which you deny_**." My trembling voice turns into yelling.

I then see a blue light coming from Cerys' arm, and I shriek. I grab her arm and lift it in front of her face. " **YOU AREN'T YOU CERYS. YOU'RE BEING POSSESSED. YOU DON'T SEE THIS BLUE LIGHT, BUT** I **DO**." "James Caddick, let go of my arm  **right now.** " She slaps my arm really hard and I take it back, grunting in pain. "...That's not you talking, Cerys, that's whoever is controlling that blue light who's talking-" "Stop talking. Please stop talking your nonsense." "It's not nonsense, honey. You can't see what's going on. I've been forced into watery graves multiple times in the past month by these four people: Alex Ross, Donna MacFarlane, and your sisters. Reality is altered for both of us. What I see, is something else to others-" "Jim, this is getting absolutely ridiculous. You went two weeks without causing a scene and now look at you. Going back to something that happened a month ago."

"So you're just gonna deny the fact that your boyfriend was beat up by Ale-" "IT'S ARCHIBALD ROSS, JIM. ARCHIBALD. ROSS. How many times do I have to tell you? Alex Ross was the criminal who broke into Burger King. The police told you that name, so you believed them. So much for his 'grandfather' beating you." "Do you think I knew what his name was in 2012? It looked like Olly's grandfather. I recognized him right there. He said my name. He talked about you. He talked about me. He talked about my channel. He mocked the fact that I'm raising kids. He tried to  _drown_  me in the sink. He escaped. But of course you didn't believe me. You saw that I was beaten up and you cried over my shoulder but you just couldn't believe that was Archibald Ross, no matter how much times I told you. You weren't with me to see Donna trying to cut my hair and chasing me out of the store in a completely empty Hereford, and then proceeding to tie me up, throw me in the lake, trying to  _drown_  me. And as much proof as I had, you didn't believe me. And your sisters.  _God_ , your sisters. All I was trying to do was take my meds and then I'm labeled a freak by your sisters, including you. You wouldn't do that. But I watched you become brainwashed right there, front and center. They tried to drown me in the well, with the caves that I found being flooded. But of course you didn't believe me. You'll never believe me. Ever-"

Cerys grabs my neck, slams me into the wall, and keeps pushing me on it. Her voice then changes to one that sounds like a mix of Ruth and Emily's once she softly speaks into my ear: " _The worst will be thrust upon you_."

A strong gust of wind hits the house, and once I look behind me, Cerys is gone and the lights are turned off. Everything is silent again.

I then notice that the non-possessed Cerys is already asleep in bed. She slowly opens her eyes and says "... _Jim? What are you doing, honey?_ "

" _Oh, um...I don't know._ "

" _Come on honey, get into bed. You look like you need rest_."

I climb into bed with her and try to fall asleep. I do need to get some sleep so I'll have enough energy to fight off the climax of this curse...


	16. s i x t e e n

**_\- 2 : 3 4 A M -_ **

_Let our souls consume you_

_As you float down this stream_

_Slowly getting towards_

_Your watery death as it seems_

_Open your eyes and you'll see_

_Us standing by your feet_

_Then your eyes will close again_

_When we drown you as you flee once more._

**\- - -**

I slowly open my eyes, and I see not my ceiling, but a cloudy sky with rain pouring down, pelting onto my tired face.

I sit up...and I notice it's happening already.

I gasp when I figure out where I am. I'm sitting on the mattress for my bed, blanket still on it...but I'm floating on it in a large body of water, like a raft.

I look around, wondering where the heck those 4 people took me. All I see is the tops of tall trees and the Hereford hills...those wankers flooded the town.

Then I realize... ** _my family_**.

Out of despair, I dive off the mattress into the rough waters, and I swim down. I assume they'd put the mattress near my house, and they did. The water's murky, but I could make out my underwater neighborhood.

I get closer to my bedroom window, and I see it open. I swim in and sure enough, the mattress was off the bed. Cerys isn't in there...

I could see something glowing from the bathroom...but it isn't a blue light. It's red. I swim to it, and the red light goes away and turns into a broken beer bottle.

_Thank God, I thought I was gonna get possessed right there. Maybe this is some kind of scavenger hunt._

I cautiously grab it, making sure I'm not being put in a trap, and I swim out of there and into the hallway. I find Cerys' purse floating around and I put it in there and keep it with me, thinking this will maybe become handy.

I then notice I'm running out of air. Luckily there's a bit of air on the top of the ceiling, and I kick myself up and breathe some in.

I swim back down and continue to Phoebe and Amy's room, and they aren't in there either...I guess my family's somewhere else.

And I see two lights: one blue and one red. The closer I get, they combine into one purple light and that purple light turns into a box of meds. So this scavenger hunt is just a real-life version of Mrs. Ross' drawing being created.

Once I pick that up and put it in the purse, I hear an underwater explosion from somewhere.

It startles me, and I quickly look behind me.

I swim back out into the hallway and look in Chloe's room. There doesn't seem to be anything in there.

So I swim back down the stairs and into the kitchen, and sure enough, an entire wall is gone. All kinds of objects are floating around towards me: cups, silverware, even some food. I push them out of my way as I try to get to the green light floating in the underwater backyard.

I get to it, but it keeps floating further away from me. I keep following it, and it gets to where the lake would've been. I get my hands on it, and it turns into a pair of scissors.

I put that in the purse when I notice my mattress on the surface. And I'm just about to run out of breath again.

I quickly propel myself to the surface as fast as I can, swimming towards the mattress, and I grab the mattress as I gasp for air.

I swear under my breath as I put the purse on the mattress. Catching my breath, I see another person on a mattress in the distance. It doesn't look like Cerys or any of the kids, nor does it look like any of the 4 people...I guess I need to go talk to them.

I push the mattress with me to get to them.

" _Hey...hello_?"

They look back at me, and it's... _who is that_?

He has scars all over him. His clothes are ripped and covered in blood. Both his eyes are punched in and there's blood trickling out of his mouth.

" _Have you...have you seen...Brandon_..." his weak, dying voice utters.

Brandon?  _Brandon_...what's  _he_ got to do with this?

Of course. This is his brother...

"I...know who you are," I tell him. "... _It was a...crash on the M25...October 10th, 2015_..."

 _Why does that sound familiar_...

No. I saw that.

I was driving back to Thame from London in 2015 and I saw that.

That was Brandon's brother.

He died.

And it was all because of his poor education from Donna. That crash was the final nail in the coffin.

I just stare at his dead face, reincarnated from this horrid curse, staring back at me.

"Please...can you tell me what's happening? Do you know where my family is?"

" _Only they know, James...only they know_..."

He then gasps and sits up, then grabs me and pulls me closer to his face.

"PLEASE. YOU NEED TO DEFEAT THEM. YOU CAN'T JUST SPEND YOUR CHRISTMAS LIKE THIS. YOU CAN'T DIE LIKE I DID-"

He starts coughing violently, blood splashing onto my face. He drops me back on my mattress and continues hacking and choking on his own blood. He trips into the water, and when he doesn't surface I dive back underwater to get him.

He just disappeared.

I swim back up and notice his mattress is gone. It's just mine now.

I float over to my mattress and grab the broken bottle out of the purse and look at my reflection in the glass. My face still has a bit of blood on it so I wash some of it off with the water, then I put the bottle back in the purse and climb back on the mattress, waiting for something to happen.

The water keeps getting higher. The tops of the trees are now invisible, and I can't tell where I am anymore.

I curl up on the mattress and rest until something happens. Maybe I'll float somewhere they want me to go...


	17. s e v e n t e e n

**_\- s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 5 -_ **

"Yes...yes, I know...I promise I'll come by later Rosie, but I need to pick up Phoebe and Amy from school first..."

I put my phone back in my pocket after having a stressful conversation with my sister. Something's happened to one of her friends and she sounded so scared. They're in hospital now and I have to see them after I get the kids.

She never told me exactly what happened...just that her friend's in hospital. I guess I need to move fast.

I make sure I have everything I need, and I walk out of my brand new house that I just moved into with my girlfriend. Life's good here. I'm glad I'm out of that flat all by myself and now with someone who truly loves me and kids that know how to behave. I hope it stays that way.

I climb into my car and start driving to the school. And as I'm driving there, I feel... _different_. Did I forget to adjust the seat? Is all this cloudy weather just getting to me?

All of a sudden, when I get out onto the main road, a  _huge_  wave of rain pelts on my car and before I know it I'm in a giant traffic jam with desperate parents trying to get their kids from school before the rain gets worse.

I sigh as the sound of the rain hitting the car drones on. I text Rosie and say that I'm gonna be late...

As I finally get closer to the school, I see there's an umbrella right next to me on the passenger seat, so I grab it, and when I finally get a parking space, I get out and open up the umbrella, then I walk out to where I'd pick up Phoebe and Amy. But they aren't there.

And then I hear a scream. Not a playful scream I'd usually hear. A terrified scream. A call for help scream.

... _Amy's scream_.

I gasp right there, and I start running around to track down her scream. I'm an Atheist but I  _pray_  under my breath the  _entire_  time I run.

I end up a bit farther away from the school in a field, near a barbwire fence. And I end up in the right place, because a terrified Phoebe then sprints to me, all soaking wet, tears in her eyes.

"Phoebe! What's going on?" "... _Amy's being beat up, Caddy_..." she struggles to say. " _Oh my God_..." I whisper.

And when I get to the fight, the fight's still alive. And no one is trying to stop it.

I look near the huge mud puddle that the rain created and see that Amy's backpack was thrown in there.

I need to be a parent and resolve this. So I go over to where the fight is to get a closer look, and these two boys keep pushing her down into all these other mud puddles. Amy looks right at me and I hear her say "Caddy" under her muffled voice.

" **LET GO OF AMY** ** _RIGHT NOW_** **,** " I yell.

Both the boys look back at me, now soaked from the rain as I dropped the umbrella when I ran to the fight, but they don't look scared. They start laughing at me and one of them says "Are you her  _dad_? You look  _ridiculous_! What's with the mohawk?" They start laughing again, and I'm suddenly tackled from by a  _third_  kid, and the other two boys continue to push around Amy.

And this kid is  _strong_. Like,  _too_  strong. He's trying to dunk me in the deepest mud puddle, and every time I use my arms to pull myself up even slightly, I always end up back in the puddle.

How hasn't anyone noticed us yet? I'm being tortured by this kid and my stepdaughter is being pushed around by his friends, and yet nobody has even budged yet. Through the heavy rain pelting on the ground where I'm being wrestled, I hear the boys swearing at Amy. This just makes me angrier and I finally gather up enough anger and strength to pull myself off the ground, head to the boys and break up that fight.

One of them had broken out a pair of scissors and was attempting to cut a chunk of Amy's hair, but I grab them right out of his hands and throw them as far away as I could. And before I could do anything else, I hear a woman yell at me to stop. And the boys stop once she yells.

I look behind me and see one of the moms of one of the three kids, looking pissed at me. "Don't do so much as lay a  _finger_  on them," she tells me. "Well, one of  _'them'_ is my daughter. And your son and his friends are torturing her to no end." "They were just  _playing_  sir."

I didn't know what to say. I'm breathing really loudly and I'm getting angry one second and I'm wanting to cry the next.

I run over to the mud puddle Amy's backpack was thrown in and pick it up. " _THIS_  is her backpack.  _THEY_  threw it in there. My other daughter can tell you everything." I look to the side and see Phoebe still standing in the same place I left her, in shock.

The mother of one of the other kids comes by and says "You're making too big of a deal out of this, sir. Just get your kids and call it a day." "I CAN'T JUST 'CALL IT A DAY' WHEN YOUR KIDS ARE TERRORIZING MY 5-YEAR-OLD. THEY AREN'T PLAYING. SHE'S CRYING. MY OTHER DAUGHTER IS IN SHOCK. I'M COVERED IN MUD BECAUSE ANOTHER ONE OF THEM TACKLED ME AND DUNKED ME IN A PUDDLE."

A third mother scares me from behind. " _You sick man_."

I look at where the fight was, and two of the kids are there, and they're running to their mothers. But the third kid and Amy were gone.

The two boys work up some fake tears and tell them I was "harassing" them.

"I was  ** _NOT_**. They were torturing my daughter, honest. And  ** _YOUR_** son," I say, looking at the mother who called me a "sick man", "just ran off with her, doing something even worse than what I just saw-"

The mother slaps me in the face and tells me " _Lose the mohawk, creep_."

The boys look back at me with smiles on their faces.

I look back at Phoebe and tell her with my stuttering voice: " _St-stay there, sweetie_."

I don't continue to confront those nasty excuses for human beings and I just sprint off to where Amy would've most likely ended up, near the school And of course, I see the third kid running towards me at light speed, laughing at me. I luckily don't end up colliding with him and I keep on running, and then I notice that he ran out of the pool room.

In the distance, I hear that kid screaming " _SHE TRIED TO DROWN ME!_ " in the fakest of voices I couldn't even conjure up as a kid.

Wait... _he tried to drown Amy_?

My running gets faster, and I eventually make it to the pool room. I open the door and run in there, and of course see Amy right in the middle of the Olympic-sized pool, struggling to keep her head above the water.

I don't stop to take off anything and I dive right into the pool. I swim over to her as fast as I can using my limited swimming abilities, and I grab her, her crying then stopping. I swim with her over to the shallow end, and I walk up the stairs out of the pool and I sit her on the floor, letting her breathe.

I sit next to her, catching my breath as well.

" _Caddy...thank you for doing that_..." she says quietly. " _You're welcome, sweetheart._ "

I then notice Amy's backpack, still at the bottom of the pool

"I'll be right back," I tell her.

I rush back into the pool, and I take a deep breath and dive under the water. I swim to the backpack, pick it up, and bring it to the surface.  
Then I swim back to the other side of the pool where Amy is, and give it to her.

We walk out of there after that, and I notice the rain has stopped. Phoebe's standing right outside the school, and she runs to me and gives me a hug, without regard to me being all soaked.

"I'm glad you're okay, Caddy and Amy," she says. "Oh, I'm glad you're both okay too," I tell her.

"Come on, girls. We're going home."

**\- - -**

I end up calling Rosie through Cerys' phone once we get home as I soaked my phone. I told her I wasn't able to come after what happened, and she understood.

I can't believe that just happened. I can't believe those mothers were so ignorant.

I'm just glad Amy didn't drown.

This ends. Now.


	18. e i g h t e e n

**_\- p r e s e n t  d a y -_ **

I curse under my breath once I wake up from my nap.  _A fifth person_.

Why  _now_? Why did the curse wait until  _now_  to push a fifth person on me?

Wait...this dream was about when Amy was severely bullied in year 1...is the fifth person...a  _child_?

I stroke my bushy beard and look around for some sort of light or something. But all I see around me is the water and the mattress I'm floating on.

Then there's the purse that I had all the stuff in. The purse had changed to a Star Wars backpack. And all the stuff is still in it.

After observing the backpack, I jump when I'm hit with a familiar smell. It smells like...the blueberry steam from my e-cig. Of course. Does the kid  _vape_?

Nah, no he doesn't.

Then I see in the distance a man sitting on an inner tube, vaping. He's a lanky man, with a Hawaiian shirt and ripped jean shorts on. He looks towards me as I get closer and blows out steam towards me. "You look like you do it too..." he tells me. "Well...yeah."

He has a Cockney accent, which is not something I expected.

That's when I notice he's using MY e-cig. It has the little "Balrog was here" doodle in silver Sharpie on it from when Wallid found my e-cig at TMG.

"You know that's mine, right?" "... _Yes...hahaha_..." "So there was  _no_  point in you saying I look like I do it too."

He just chuckles, and I then have a feeling about him.

" _You're his dad_." I say.

"Little Dyson, haha. He played rough with your stepdaughter, right?" "...Correct. And nearly drowned her too."

A wheezy laugh erupts from his mouth, and he then remarks "Dyson would  _never_  do that! He's just a little tough, but he would  _never_  murder, that's a fact!"

I try not to get too pissed with him, so I just take a deep breath and tell him "Look, your wife called me a creep because I was only 21 raising children AND I was wearing a mohawk. I had to dive into the pool and save my stepdaughter your son tried to drown."

He snaps his fingers, and the water suddenly gets rougher and runs faster.

As I hold onto my mattress and backpack, I tell him "So YOU'RE the fifth person??"

He chuckles again, and the next time I blink, he disappears.

I then look what's ahead of me, and I'm about to head down a huge waterfall.

"... _Oh, dear lord_..."


	19. n i n e t e e n

" _Jim, honey, please wake up_..."

" _JIM!_ "

I open my eyes instantly once I hear someone call my name, and I sit up and start coughing up water. As I catch my breath, I notice that I'm on the grass, right next to the Wye. It's still pouring rain and it's still the cursed never ending dead of night. And next to me is a worried sick Cerys, who then gives me a hug.

" _Oh, honey...oh honey, it's so good to see you again_..." she softly speaks into my ear. "Where were you?" she adds.

"I was...on a mattress. In the middle of a giant body of rising water flooding Hereford. I met the brother of my old friend's living corpse and the dad of that kid who tried to drown Amy years ago...apparently, there's a fifth person and that's him. I fell off a waterfall, and...I'm here now, I guess. Where did all the water go?" "I don't know honey...I wasn't able to see anything. I'd get trapped in some old shack this terrifying two-headed lady escorted me to the second I woke up in a field...I was terrified for my life. I didn't know where you were, and I don't know where the kids are. I'm just so glad to know that you're alive. I guess the water disappeared the second you went down that waterfall, and I was able to get out of the shack. I'm surprised they didn't let the water just seep into the shack and try to drown me, which seems to be their main goal. And I saw that you were floating in the river right here, unconscious, and I fished you out."

We continue to hug and cry on each other's shoulders for a few more minutes when I notice the four lights in the sky...red, green, purple, and orange. I think it's time to fight.

"Honey...have you seen a backpack floating near here?" "I don't think so..."

I then see something in the grass a few feet away. I go over to it and notice it's a wallet, and my e-cig is placed right next to it.

I open up the wallet and sure enough, it's the boy's dad's. His name is Reginald...Caddock. One letter different from my last name.

I put both in my pockets and head back to Cerys.

"Honey, you need to hide somewhere. I don't want you to get hurt, or get possessed again," I desperately tell her. Her eyes water. "Jim...I want to be with you. I don't want  _you_  to get hurt either. If you die, I will die with you."

I stare into space for a few seconds, thinking what I should do with her, when someone grabs my legs and starts dragging me across the damp grass.

" ** _AAAAH! HONEY!_** "


	20. t w e n t y

I can almost barely breathe in this small space I've been shoved into. I can't see  _anything_.

I remember being dragged by someone and then knocked out. The second I woke up, I was here. In a dark, cluttered space. I can't tell what it is.

Then I slap myself when I realize what it is. I'm in a locker. Did they seriously take me into a school?

I lean my head on what I presume is the door of the locker (because there isn't a little window) and sigh. I'm gonna have a hard time trying to deal with them.

Suddenly, the door is opened, and I fall out onto the tiled floor as I've been leaning on the door.

"Doesn't that give you memories?" I hear a familiar Cockney accent say. It's Reginald.

I stand up and face him, standing in the dim, empty halls of Chloe's school in the dead of night. He looks threatening, and I go ahead and get into a defensive position, in fear he's going to strike me.

"I know what you're trying to do," I then say.

"I'm just trying to clear the world of degenerates like you," he says back.

He starts to run towards me and I'm able to wrap my arm around his neck and choke him. He still tries to stab me and I hold on to his arm, using all my strength to pull it away. Reginald then gets out of my grab and gets onto me, and now we're wrestling with each other throughout the halls.

We end up wrestling into a pool room, and Reginald throws me on the tile floor right next to the deep end. " _God, he's stronger than I thought_..." I whisper. All the lights in here are off except for the pool lights, so that blue water is the only way I can see in here.

I look behind me and gasp at Reginald sitting behind me. I'm thinking about just jumping in there and drowning myself at this point. But of course that's what he's about to do to me at this point anyway.

He grabs me neck, sits me up and faces me toward the pool. " _Tell me your favorite nursery rhyme_."

I know what he's trying to do. I just know. It's faulty bait. Whether I answer or not he's still gonna dunk me.

I can't even think.  _What's a nursery rhyme? What is YouTube? Who's Caddicarus?_

"...I won't tell you until you tell me where my family is."

I go ahead and take a deep breath and he pushes my head underwater. Under there I try to get out of his grab, conserving my breath, when I see the backpack at the bottom of the pool.

Suddenly he pulls me up and I gasp for air. I look to the other side and see that his knife is still on the floor. So I try to get away but it was no use. He keeps strangling me with every move I make, and whenever I try to bite his arm or throw him in the pool I can't do it.

" ** _STOP! STOP! STOP!_** "

I yell loudly but I know no one's here to help. Ironically it's like drowning. No matter how much I scream or fling around, no one can hear me.

Finally, I'm able to punch him in the face as I'd gotten my hand out of his grab. I punch him, and as he's stunned I get up and run as fast as I can to the knife, but my weak and tired self trips and falls back into the pool while doing so.

Before I could get to the surface, there's already someone pulling me down. And when I look down I realize it isn't Reginald. It's... _a two-headed lady_. She has four tentacles and she looks like she's out of Silent Hill.

Ruth and Emily.

Out of all of the five people, those two pissed me off the most. And now they're a Dark Souls boss. Why me?

Once they drag me all the way down the the bottom, they use their tentacles to pin me down to the bottom.

I feel like I'm going to pass out in fear. I barely got to take a deep breath when I fell in and now I'm being pinned down.

Then...scissors are dropped into the pool. Right by me. Donna's here.

I slide my hand out of the slippery tentacles and grab the scissors. I cut right through those tentacles and violet blood spills out of them. I hear a piercing scream from them, and they dissolve into nothing. Good.

Still holding the scissors, I glide over to where the backpack would've been. But both the backpack and the box of meds that represent Reginald and Ruth and Emily are gone. Only the beer bottle persists, and I'm holding the pair of scissors. But how in the world did the scissors get out of the backpack and end up being dropped in the pool next to me? I guess I just shouldn't question it and keep on lifting this god forsaken curse.

I thrust myself up to the surface, which was a bad idea because I ended up bonking my head on a clear pool cover Donna most likely put out.

There's only a tiny bit of surfacing room. If I don't look up way high, my eyes are the only thing you'd see on the surface.

I inch my head up to the little air room I have and cough out water that I accidentally breathed in when I bonked my head on the cover. After a million coughs, I finally catch my breath, and I just wait for something to happen. What else can I do in here?

" **HELLO THERE CADDICK**!" I hear a piercing yell from behind me and see that an even more messed up Donna was floating behind me. I scream on the top of my lungs and stab her in the eye with the scissors. I swim away from the scene as fast as I can, and as I do that the pool cover starts coming off. And as I do  _that_ , the scissors disappear.

I go back underwater real quick, grab the beer bottle, swim back up, and pull myself out of the pool. And of course, the first thing I see when I get out is Archibald Ross.

"What do you want? I'm not getting any younger," I tell him.

He doesn't speak.

"I'm not gonna end back up in the pool, no matter what you do," I continue.

He still doesn't speak.

" _Sigh_...look, are you gonna dunk me in some more dirty sink water or something? I'm not scared anymore."

Nothing.

I take the broken beer bottle and say "Look, I'm just gonna go ahead and get this over with-"

The second I start trying to scratch him with the bottle, he grabs my arm and starts trying to break it.

"OWWWW! H-hey,  _stop_ -!"

He doesn't end up breaking it, but he does end up grabbing the bottle from me.  
"I never expected you to get this far, considering how weak you are." he says.

I don't proceed to argue with him. I don't make myself get too angry or anything. All I do is just get that sweet revenge so he'll know what it feels like.

So the second he starts going towards me, I kick him in the balls. It's only fair.

The next time I blink my eyes, he and the bottle are gone.

Is...is the curse... _lifted_?

Then I hear yelling and someone running towards me. And when I look back, it's...Reginald? What the? I thought I'd already dealt with him!

I quickly run to the knife that was still sitting on the ground and when he gets close enough I pounce on him, tackle him and stab him in the back over and over again.

" ** _DIE! DIE! JUST DIE_**!"

I was really getting into it when I'd realized there's blood all over me. My arms, clothes, face... _crap_.

I drop the knife, scoot back, take a breather, and look at the corpse in front of me.

" _Jesus Christ_..."

I'm...done.

I close my eyes, stand up and let out a giant shout of victory.

And the second I open my eyes... _there's water up to my waist._

 _The pool water is rising_.

I run as fast as I can make myself go in the water, and run out of the pool room. There's stairs that you go down to get in so I was out of the water by the time I got out of there. But it's only going to keep rising.

And I sure was right, because water suddenly started rushing out of the doors, and I don't just run, I  _sprint_. I sprint for my life. For getting rid of this curse.

Water is coming in from all areas, and it's splashing on me, but I'm doing a pretty good job with not having to swim. I guess I've just gotten so sodding tired of doing it to where I just have this natural resistance to it.

And in the distance... _there's an open door out of this place._

I run out of there, into the nighttime in dead, rainy Hereford, and I run across the street and trip on the curb.

I stay down on the curb and catch my breath from all the action I've had in the past 10 or so minutes. All I need is my family back and I can walk right out of this curse and get back to business as usual.

I then see feet walking toward me: Mary Janes and stockings. When I look up, it's Elizabeth Ross.


	21. t w e n t y  o n e

"... _Mr. Caddick_?"

Still in awe at what I'd just gone through, I get on my feet, turn back to the school and watch all the water still pouring out of all the doors and windows. The water flows onto the street and onto the sidewalk I'm currently standing on.

"... _I've lifted it_ ," I say.

I look back at Elizabeth behind me and she nods. "Yes, you've lifted it...but there's something that I want you to see before I go. Come with me."

Both of us keep walking down the street as the water calms down and stops pouring out of the school. It feels less humid and the stars are suddenly out in the sky once again. Street lights turn on, lights in the houses around us turn on, and I hear laughing going on from the inside of the houses.

Now I don't feel like there's a million weights being put on my back and I feel somewhat  _complete_  again. Like how it was before the night of October 11th, when I had that dream that would shape the next month of my life. And when I realize that I just made out of all this alive, I smile. And it isn't a fake smile, it's a real smile. Finally starting to get dry, I put my hands in the pockets of my jeans and keep walking.

Then I stop in my tracks, realizing something.

"Wait, where's my family??" I ask Elizabeth. "You'll see," she says.

After walking for a few more minutes, we end up at this little cottage at the edge of town.

"This was my mother's house," she says. "She moved to Oxford and had me in 1934. It's only been lived in by one person since then and they moved out in 2001."

She then goes up to the door and opens it. "Wait a minute, so you don't need a key or anything...?" "Come in, Jim. I've saved several people and let them be safe in here until you came. I'm sure they'd love to see you."

I walk inside the old house, which has surprisingly been maintained for how old it is. I don't know why, but even though it hasn't been lived in for 17 years it's furnished. Whatever, it looks nice anyway. It's dim in the foyer but I see a brighter light coming from the kitchen right in front of me. So far this cottage reminds me of Emily and Ruth's house, except it has a friendlier feeling. The old wood floors don't creak as much and the old floral wallpaper isn't decaying. It actually looks like a well-maintained house for how old it is.

As I walk to the kitchen, Elizabeth disappears behind me. I guess these are my true final minutes with this curse.

The kitchen has pink tiled floors and maroon colored walls. The old appliances still look good as new, and at the white round table are... _Phoebe, Amy, and Chloe_. They aren't doing anything, just sitting there.

They turn their heads when they see me there, and they get out of their chairs and start rushing towards me, yelling " **CADDY**!" I kneel down, open my arms and they all pile onto me. We all laugh and I start crying tears of joy.

I sit up, still laughing, and put my arms around all three of them. " _My girls_...you had no idea how worried I was for you three." "We were worried too, Caddy, just as much as you were," Chloe says. "We woke up here and were locked in this house, all by ourselves." "Wait, so you mother isn't here?" "No..." " _Hm_...I'll be back, girls."

I start to look around the house. I look in the half-bathroom, which matches the kitchen aesthetically, and in the bedroom right by it. And when I get to the living room, I see a sleeping woman on the couch once I turn on the light. I get closer to her, and I see her familiar face and beautiful long reddish-brown hair.

"... _Cerys_?" I whisper.

She starts waking up, and after she slowly opens her eyes, she gasps with joy and immediately grabs me.

" _Jim...oh, Jim, honey_..."

I sit there on the soft carpet floor, hugging a relieved Cerys lying on the red velvet couch.

As we continue to hug, the girls find us, and they join in the hug. And we all hug for a while.

I've never felt this amazing in a  _long_  time.

 _And_ _as I keep smiling and hugging, tears of joy falling down my cheeks, I close my eyes and suddenly I feel the world around me spinning_...


	22. e p i l o g u e

I open my eyes, waking up in the comfort of my bed. After I yawn and rub my eyes, I grab my phone and see that it's the Monday morning of November 20th. So Cerys isn't next to me as she's already gone to work.

I then remember that I need to take the kids to school, and then I have to go to the store. So I get out of my bed quickly and start throwing on some clothes. I manage to freshen up in the bathroom in a decent amount of time and after I make sure I have what I need, I head downstairs and into the kitchen to make sure the kids are eating their breakfast, and sure enough, they were already almost done.

"Oh, girls, I woke up sort of late this morning. Are you sure you three are ready?" They say "Yes", and after they quickly clean up, we all get in the car and I start driving them to school.

After I drop Phoebe and Amy off at their school, I drop off Chloe at her school, looking the same school that was once flooding with water just last night.

I smile watching Chloe walk up to the school, I pull out of the parking and start heading to the store.

On the way I drive by that Burger King, where I had my first out-of-dream encounter with the curse. It now has cars in the parking lot, people going in to get breakfast, without a care in the world.

Then I pull in the parking lot of the Sainsbury's, where that stabbing occurred and where I was chased by a crazy lady wanting to cut my hair. Now, as I get out of the car and walk in, people are conversing with each other, everything is a little more animated, and I feel a little more confident. I get what I need, pay for it, and walk out and get back in the car, no problem.

And then something pops up in my mind: that old cottage.

I remember it being at the edge of town, near Chloe's school.

I drive to where I think the house was located, going down the same streets Elizabeth and I were walking on last night, and I then find where it was...but it was torn down. The old flagstone path was still there, but the actual house was gone.

I pull over so I can get a little closer look at it, and once my eyes shift to the passenger's seat, I notice there's...a drawing of the River Wye. I pick it up and it has Elizabeth's name signed on it. As the sun reflects onto the back of the paper, I notice there's a note on the back. I turn it to the back and it says:  
  


_Jim,_

_You did it. The worst was thrust upon you and you were able to overcome the worst better than anyone else. Take this past month of your life and apply it to your troubles with people telling you how to do things. I still don't get this whole YouTube thing, but if you can get through all this, then you can get through the people giving you hate for doing what you want to do. Don't apologize...just keep fighting, just like you've been doing._

_~ Elizabeth Ross_   
  


I smile, put the note back on the passenger seat, and I continue driving home.

"I did it."

**~ end fanfic ~**


End file.
